Bound
by RecklessDarkness
Summary: One-shot, set right after "The Last Jedi". Rey tries to ignore his bond with Kylo Ren, but with the imminent death of General Organa, she starts to wonder who will be able to lead the Resistence, and what will be necessary to end the war. The answer, however, may be clearer than she imagines. #Reylo


Hi! I'm RecklessDarkness and this is a Reylo one-shot I wrote short after wacthing "The Last Jedi". Sort of a simple way I thought, back then, that things would happen after the movie events. I really hope you like it!

Btw, the fanart in the cover is not mine, you can find the original version in this link:

image/169715410713

Good reading!

* * *

 **Bound**

It wasn't like I was expecting something to happen. Inside me, in fact, I still tried to understand what _had_ happened. As much as I knew the facts, now, hidden with everyone in a distant planet, making plans for the future, it was actually very funny to deal with that. Sometimes, when I was alone, I could feel his presence alongside mine. Not that he looked for me; _no_. He was just there, ordinary, as if he had always been.

It was in one of these moments that we received the bad news.

According to what they told us, it all started with chest pain, which got worse at night, and turned out to be a heart attack. The medical team worked the fastest they could, but it wasn't enough. In a couple of hours, we all watched General Organa lying in her bed, unconscious and barely breathing. Not for the first time, I knew. But now, as the doctors said, the odds were not in her favor. If she really went away, who would be the one to lead us now? I had no idea. However, I remembered what she'd told me a few days earlier: that we had everything we needed. Now, with her imminent death, I asked myself what would we do, knowing that we still had maybe years of war against the First Order, leaded by her son. With whom I kept that strange contact.

I'm in my room, with the wind blowing soft through the window. It's one of the few non-shared rooms here. It's nightfall, but I can still see some sunlight, so I don't turn on the lights. I just seat in a chair, trying to avoid my thoughts about Leia, removing my shoes and a thick jacket that covered me. That's when I feel him again.

It's funny to look around and see yourself alone when you know you're not. As always, I ignore his presence. I pretend to be nowhere at all, focused only in my own energy, but there's something in my mind that I can't avoid: Snoke has been dead for days now. How can this connection still survive?

I strive a little against my own calm state, because I feel that something is pressuring it outside. I know I must resist, as I've been doing since I saw him the last time. But his presence has never been this strong, and it intrigues me.

"Why do you look for me?" I question, finally. Silence following makes feel like an idiot, but I keep steady "Tell me."

Once again, I just hear the sound of my own breath. However, inside my thoughts, I listen to his voice, deep and calm, however strong, with its dark tone, as always, and such coldness that I know so well. Exactly how I remembered it.

 _I did not look for you._

I keep quiet, but it's not like I was resisting. For a moment, I remember the first time we've been connected. I wonder if asking him to go away will work somehow, and, suddenly, his voice returns.

 _Away from where?_

Yes, that's true, he's not even here. However, I keep on imagining a reason for the fact that we're only hearing each other's thoughts now. It could be happening for days, but for some reason it just happened now since I closed that door. What has changed?

"Did you feel her illness?" I ask, holding on to the only reasonable explanation I can find. He answers me with silence again, and in this moment something makes me feel like my chest is hold tight, and my thoughts speak for themselves.

 _Talk to me._

I close my eyes for an instant, and when I open them again, I see him before my eyes, with his black clothes and hair, staring at me with all the darkness of his eyes.

I keep standing there, only matching his eye, which, as always, have no look that I can read. He's barely changed since the last time I saw him. Doesn't look like he's just gone out of battle, of course, but the look in his eyes is the same. This look I can't interpret. Mainly in the last time that, even through the Force, we've met.

I feel my feet against the cold ground, and my clothes touching my skin, like I suddenly started to pay attention to the involuntary movements of my body. Anyway, I don't look away.

"You felt her, didn't you?" I ask "You know your mother is dying…"

"She's already dead to me." he interrupts me, without a bit of hurry, or emotion.

"Then why are you here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question." that's the answer he gives me. One more time, I remember when our bond begun. I try to look through him, hear his thoughts, like he hears mine, but my abilities in the Force are not as strong as his. I'll only hear his thoughts if he wants me to.

Again, I do nothing but staring at him, while so many things come to my mind, dozens of conflicted feelings that I can't get rid of. I don't know if it's because of them, but I rise from my chair and walk towards him, until we're face to face.

I wonder what everyone would think if they knew about this bond. Even if this is happening in my mind, somehow, I'm sharing thoughts with Kylo Ren. Although every time I did, I didn't feel like talking to the current Supreme Leader of the First Order.

"You're unbalanced". I hear him say. Striking into my mind must be really easy, but I don't let it lie this time. I look deep into his eyes. I can't read his thoughts, and it angers me to the point of feeling his energy, calm and impervious, like nothing was really happening.

"And you are not." I say. My irritation increases "How can you not care, even just to yourself? You killed your father, your leader… Was it all for greed? Ambition?" I make a fist "How can you?!"

Impulsive, like I let all my anger collapse in this very moment, I raise in the air my closed hand and hit his face hardly. I close my eyes for a second, the impact of my hand against his skin seems to last for hours, but my surprise is that he doesn't strike back.

I look at my enemy again, and he matches my gaze, my hand standing in his jaw, shaking more than I wanted. Or better: I didn't want to tremble. I trembled when I held my saber against his for the first time, but didn't let him notice it. Never let myself seem so weak, having raised myself in Jakku for all these years. No, I'm not weak, and I enrage myself for making it look like I am. However, when I realize my fingertips touching his face, my feelings fall away for an instant.

It's like I lightly touched the surface of a calm sea. Soft, with few moves bellow my hand, but it could turn against me in the blink of an eye, and I can see it in the darkness in _his_ eyes. Confused, I stare at him, aware that my anger is still here, but incapable of feeling it now. He, on his turn, just also raises one of his hands, but slowly, and takes it to my face.

The cloth of his glove is cold, but I can feel the heat underneath it, and I remember, very well, when our hands touched. His face is different; the skin is softer, even with the scar I gave him. The involuntary movements of my hand make me notice it. We're still looking at each other when I see him approach. More precisely, come towards my face and, when I realize, our lips touch.

The first thing I feel is not the kiss, but the heat, once soft, growing now. I wasn't expecting more of it. My lips' movements are imprecise while I ignore, without much success, the fact that this is the first time I kiss someone. I barely imagined how this would be my entire life, so I don't know what I expected, neither what I'm feeling now, but it's not like I didn't like it. In my head, all the moments in which we've been in each other's presence are running now; ever since we've met, even if against my will. My eyes are closed, and I believe his are too. I just taste his lips as mine move along, something salty and acid… _Blood._

I open my eyes suddenly, walking at least three steps back, almost laying against the wall while he touches his lower lip with his hands, and I can see a cut on it. I don't know what part of me did this.

"Ben…" by instinct, I call, and he then looks at me: his wounded lips, still half covered by his hand, move in the form of a smile, and his eyes stare at my gasping figure in an incessant way, although I don't know the reason for it. All I know is that, before I can ask, he comes quickly towards me, keeping my mouth busy again.

My back touches the wall, and the strength of the kiss holds me against it. If my hand was shaking before, now my whole body does, taken by my inexperience, which Ben doesn't seem to have. I wonder how this is possible, since his life objectives come down to the First Order since… How many years ago?

Different from the first kiss, this is stronger, faster, and I feel like I can kiss him back better. Like I _wanted_ to, and I can't understand myself for it. I start to feel sweat coming to my pores, like the temperature between me and Ben rose at every instant. I feel his gloves sliding down my arms, and I get frightened with the shiver they give me. Not just for me or my confuse thoughts; there're a lot of people out there, Leia is dying, no one can even imagine what's happening here now.

 _Ben, stop, we can't do this._

My thoughts are firm, and for a moment I think Ben heard them, because he interrupts our kiss. However, his lips go from my mouth to the side of my face, right bellow my year, making me shiver more.

 _So tell me you want me to stop,_ he thinks to me, and I feel his breath close, like he was really talking, _Say it out loud, and I'll stop._

His words echo in my mind, and I know what they mean, but feeling his kisses in the sensitive skin of my neck, I can't pronounce anything. Is the Force this weak in me? Is he taking me to the dark side? I don't know. I just know this strange sensation I never felt makes me want more. More heat, more slow shivers in my spine… More of _him_. It's like the whole universe tried to tame this spark, but the fire from which it comes was hidden, _well_ hidden, inside us. When I realize, my hands are going towards Ben's hair, and he kisses me again.

I hear steps in the hallway, but can't pay attention to them. I allow myself to caress my enemy, his hair, his neck, feel the hard cloth of the armor he wears. As my hands touch him, I keep on imagining the loneliness hidden underneath this black mantle, this skin barely touched by the sun, while mine was always burned by the light in Jakku. He does the same to me. However, as my clothes are much thinner, I feel with much more intensity his hands touching my shoulders, going down to my bust and, finally, my waist.

"Raise your arms." Ben says, before kissing me again. I'm innocent in my act, because I put my arms up right away, and he suddenly raises my clothes, and they easily come out of me, making me look scared at him, because I wasn't expecting for this now. And I wasn't wearing anything under these clothes.

Ben stops looking at my face and stares at my body, his black irises consume me out and inside as he analyses every nearer of my extension. My first impulse would be to look down, but I don't do it. When our eyes meet again, I can see desire overflowing in him, mixed with something he tries to lock up inside.

 _You're beautiful, Rey_ , I hear him thinking, and I see the kind of anger he feels for it. Anger is almost the only expression I could ever see in Kylo Ren, who hadn't even pronounced my name until now. Maybe I should be afraid, as I don't know exactly who's with me in a situation as sensitive as this, but I feel some inner power, something I can't understand, that doesn't let my insecurity prosper. So I face him with confidence, without any shame of myself, and he reciprocates with desire. I feel the fury in his next kiss, and the heat that spreads as he takes off his clothes, and I just watch it. Starting with the gloves, so that our hands can touch again. I feel like, through our fingers, our hearts connect. There's something between us, that I can't explain, but can't keep on hiding either. He goes to his boots, then, and the rest of the black uniform that covers his white skin comes later.

I put my hands on his chest, let my fingertips caress the contour of his muscles, defined exactly like I remembered, along with the scars, which kept on my memory as well. The strangest thing is this seems to be the vision I always looked for, that makes me remember all I forgot; heat, security. _Retribution_. Ben goes through my neck with his lips again, and when I caress his shoulders and arms, something starts to form in my mind. More precisely, both of us totally naked in a scandalous position, and something burning strangely wet in my. I hear Ben drown a laugh.

"Why are you giving me this image?" I ask. He whispers the answer in my left ear.

"Are you sure it wasn't you who gave it to me?"

If it was that or not, I wouldn't be able to tell, but I don't have much time to talk, because, with quick steps, we both go to my bed, where I lie in my back and Ben supports his weight in his elbows to stand upon me. We stop for an instant, then, in which we just look at each other, feeling the heat that spreads between us, in our bodies that incessantly wish for more. I know he feels my shivers, here in his arms, and now, I can feel his too. Close as we are, I can see my reflection in his eyes, and it's like I could read them then, and knew exactly what Ben wants in the moment. Finally, I find courage to say.

"I've never done this."

Once again, I don't know what Ben could say, but in fact he doesn't say anything. Instead, goes back on kissing my neck, and I hear his voice in my mind:

 _Be selfish now, Rey. Tell me what you want._

As he kisses me again, I go back on imagining what time he may have had to practice affective skills like these. In a life that seems so cold, being responsible for genocides in don't know how many planets, serving a leader like Snoke. I never thought I could expect this from him. It seems like I was wrong, however. He's practiced enough. Which makes me thing, in a perfectly _selfish_ way, that I'm not a test.

"Everything you've ever done. With any other."

I could have simply thought these two sentences, and he'd hear me, but I wanted to say them out loud. And, once again, I see Ben smiling. We kiss again, and he then orders me to close my eyes.

In the darkness behind my eyelids, I can feel the electricity through my body when his lips go to my breasts, I put my head back when the soft and warm touches go through my abdomen. I think that, a short time ago, I saw him as a monster, who now I allow to touch me through my whole body, like we both had been kept captive for centuries, and finally saw ourselves free. Ben gets close to me, more and more, until I finally feel that he gives me all of him.

For a moment, I think that the whole galaxy could break down, and we'll be in the middle of the crack, not belonging to any of the sides. Like in any break, yes, I feel pain. But some say pain is necessary for balance, that the balance of the Force demands a sacrifice. Many Jedi have sacrificed themselves, however, and balance was not reached. Including Master Luke. That's what makes me conclude that maybe _two_ sacrifices are needed. The dark side, the light, what do they mean alone? What could the balance of the Force be but their union?

I feel my body light, resting in my bed, and when I open my yes, I see Ben by my side, looking at me. Both covered by sweat and with accelerated breath that, slowly, calms down. It's like I floated through the room, like an energy, and saw both of us, his face with the scar I made some time ago, and my neck with a little black spot in the left side, making me blush, because it wasn't there before. I have memories of the moment when I saw Ben for the first time without his mask, and he tried to penetrate my mind, but I ended up doing it to him instead. The truth is that we could always see each other's thoughts. And I'm sure that, when our hands touched in that island, I could see his future. It was too clear for me to forget. I know, inside me, that I can't be wrong.

"I will make you turn." I tell Ben. He faces me with his darkness eyes.

"No. I will make you turn." replies. And then, as if the Force itself spoke between us, I feel our hands touching. However, this time, I don't see any future. Just the present.

Maybe, just _maybe_ , we don't need to turn.

Suddenly, among my thoughts, I hear the sound of quick steps down the hallway, coming towards my door.

"Rey!"

I have only one instant to look at Ben one last time, and in the blink of an eye, I find myself seated in the chair, with my clothes on and feet against the cold ground, looking at nowhere, the wind coming softly through the window. Ben is gone, just like the sweat and my body resting in the bed. That's when I remember: it was just our bond.

How is it possible that I have felt all of that? In such a real way, so touchable? How powerful is the Force to give such a strong illusion? I blink and shake my head. The door is open, and I see Finn gasping, standing on the other side.

"She's gone, Rey."

In the moment he says these words, I rise suddenly and run alongside him to the hospital room where General Organa was, where I find the medical team analyzing her last data. The monitors have stopped, along with her breath.

Most of us are here now. I see Poe some yards away, talking to the others, Rose in the other side, and Finn is still behind me. Some are crying, others inquiring who our leader will be now. I, in the other hand, keep silent, looking only at Gneral Organa's body, because I feel something there, something trying to talk to me. Her hear hasn't just stopped; it _decided_ to quit beating. Maybe the others won't know the difference, but I do: she's also alongside the Force now, because there was no need of her here anymore. I wonder how, feel my heart beating fast, inquiring to myself what the last words Leia told me mean, but this whole mess in my head goes away when I spot a mirror in the room; I realize, finally, that Leia didn't let us helpless. Quite the opposite; she knew exactly what needed to be done to end this war. Because, among the figures that go through here, I see, in the mirror, myself, and, in the left side of my neck, a little black spot.

 _We have everything we need._

* * *

Well, I hope you have enjoyed "Bound" like I did when I wrote it. I love Rey and Kylo, they're my favorite couple, and I wanted to make something cute of them together and also put on what's my perspective of the balance of the Force.

Check me out on Twitter and Tumblr for more Reylo stuff! All links on my profile!

May the Force be with you all! 3


End file.
